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Charles Rodman
Charles Rodman was a supporting character in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He is the father of human protagonist Dr. Will Rodman and adoptive grandfather of Caesar. He was portrayed by John Lithgow. History Charles, a former music teacher, had been living under the care of his son Will after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. As his health and memory began failing, he became confined to his home under a nursemaid's care while Will went to work at Gen-Sys Laboratories. At Gen-Sys, Will was researching a potential cure to Alzheimer's which he was testing on chimpanzees. One such chimp, affectionately named Bright Eyes, had been put down after an attempted escape, but Will had discovered that she had secretly given birth. While the other chimp test subjects were put down, Will saved Bright Eyes' child by bringing it home and caring for it himself. Charles was surprised and delighted by the baby chimp's arrival. Having taken to frequently quoting the works of William Shakespeare, it was Charles who named the young ape Caesar. For a time, Charles' emotional and mental state improved thanks to Caesar's presence, but his disease was still progressing. Studying Caesar's behaviour, Will realised that Bright Eyes had passed onto her child the ALZ-112 virus she had been injected with at Gen-Sys. The retroviral drug had increased Caesar's intelligence well above the norm for apes and Will believed that the drug could possibly cure his father. Will secretly stole several canisters of ALZ-112 from Gen-Sys and administered the drug to Charles. The day after the first treatment, Charles showed remarkable improvement, regaining his mental faculties and even playing the piano. For five years, the Rodmans and Caesar lived happily, but Charles' disease then began to steadily relapse. Will discovered that the ALZ-112 wasn't an aggressive enough strain and that his father had developed an immunity to it. Soon, Charles' Alzheimer's Disease returned with a vengeance and an incident occurred with the Rodmans' neighbour Douglas Hunsiker. Charles had tried to drive Hunsiker's car and ended up ramming it into the cars parked either side of it, angering Hunsiker who physically threatened Charles. Caesar saw the commotion through the window and leapt out to protect Charles, attacking Hunsiker and biting off his finger. After this incident, the Rodmans were forced to take Caesar to an ape shelter. Death After developing the ALZ-113 strain, Will considering using it to treat his father after the progress that had been made with the chimps at Gen-Sys. However, in his last moments, Charles refused the treatment and died minutes later as his disease finally claimed him. It could be that Charles suspected that the ALZ-113 virus may have had adverse effects on humans (something that all of humanity would come to realise in the near future) or that he simply felt that it was his time to die. Category:Movie Deaths Category:Humans Category:Planet of the Apes Category:Rise of the Planet of the Apes Category:Supporting Characters Category:Important Characters Category:Tragic Deaths Category:Death by Sickness